Porcupine Puffer in reef tank???

[jackson6745]

I have heard from countless sources that a porcupine puffer would destroy a reef tank. So naturally I decided to put one in my reef to see if its reputation is true (I couldn't resist those blue eyes). I has been almost 2 months and I have not noticed any adverse affect. I have mostly lps and leathers, and 1 maxima clam. My question is if this fish was to cause a problem where, or on what type of coral would it likely occur?

[imbuggin]

any shrimp, crabs, sea urchins, live rock, sponges, and I bet most sps corals. That fish would destroy any real reef in no time. I will bet you clam is doomed as well. How big is the puffer? Must be small because you say he has been behaving. Good luck with a bad idea

[Ben Wilson]

Almost all Puffers will leave your corals alone, its your other inverts they try to eat. Cleaner shrimp, blue-legged hermit crabs, and any other beneficial invert species. Not a good reef choice.

[jackson6745]

I have a cleaner shrimp and a brittle star which have not been harmed. The fish is approx 3 1/2 inches long.

[iceman16238]

There is another member of this board(forgot name but his name is dan and has his puffer as the avatar) that has one in his reef. It does not bother corals or inverts at all. I plan on having one in my reef too.

[Zepplin]

I'm assuming your referring to Diodon holocanthus? If so, we've been successfully keeping them in our reef tanks for over 2 years now. The porcupine puffers don't seem to even notice the corals... If anything, they might accedentially bump into one, fragging a SPS here and there, but nothing intentional. Ours did once or twice bite a zooanthid because it had caught a piece of mysis that the puffer was chasing. As soon as the puffer bit into it, he spit it out, and looked like it did NOT like that taste much .

Furthermore, we've kept many shrimp and clams in our tank too! Heck, the pair of cleaner shrimp are best friends with our puffer. They both will climb onto him and clean him while he's sleeping. It's funny to see a puffer swimming around with little shrimp strapped to it's back . Ours will occasionally try to eat a snail or hermit crab, but 99% of the time is unsuccessful.

IME and IMO porcupine puffers are excellent fish for reef tanks. You still need to be weary of certain critters that your puffer may fancy. I think it's a matter of personality as to what they might eat, but they definatly will NOT harm your corals (at least not on purpose!). I can't speak for other species of p. puffers, but certainly the Diodon holocanthus gets a stamp of approval from me!

Dan
ps. Feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions, concerns or want to hear about "Hoss". Also, there are pictures of him on our website.

[Zepplin]

iceman16238 -->beat me to it!
Dan

[iceman16238]

Originally posted by Zepplin
iceman16238 -->beat me to it!
Dan

'
. Quickdraw is the name i go as lol . I always wanted a puffer. I cant wait till the time comes. Your lucky Dan

[Reaper]

Out of this puffer (Diodon holocanthus) and a blue niger trigger, what would in your opinions be safer in a reef tank?

[jackson6745]

Thanks guys, I will continue to monitor his behavior, but I am much less worried now

[Zepplin]

IMO, triggers are WAAAAAY more aggressive than Diodon holocanthus. I'd never put a trigger in my tank honestly. They have those nasty looking teeth!
Besides, you can't pet a trigger, but you can pet a puffer.

Dan

[imbuggin]

Ok, many of you feel strong that they are ok to put in a reef. I still dissagree, but putting aside the idea if they will pick they are still a poor choice. Porcupine Puffers are one of the fastest growing fish in the aquarium trade. They require a lot of food and are even know to eat themselves to death. This means waste in your reef....lots (other small fish will have to fight for food also). I have a 300 gallon and would not put a trigger or puffer in there!!! FYI I have seen one take off the end of a divers finger thinking it was food. I concider that to be very aggresive, too aggressive for my reef I want ZEN

[Zepplin]

Are you sure your talking about Diodon holocanthus? They actually only get about 10" in the hobby... Not to mention that they aren't fast swimmers like tangs or anything like that. If your tank is set up correctly, I don't think they will put too much bioload in your tank. You do need to be careful not to overfeed them simply because that will ultimately lead to their early death. Try to feed them a combination of foods including mysis if possible.

Dan

[ahhdui]

I also have a porky puffer in my reef for about a year now. It's about 6" long in a 5' (100g) tank. His everyday mission is to patrol and look for stuff it can eat (kinda fun to watch). It does eat all the snails. Doesn't touch my brittle star, cleaner shrimps or any of the soft corals. It does have a sweet tooth for stonies. Extremely messy eater so it's great for my pods, etc... A puffer in a reef is possible but that all depends on the personality of the puffers.

--Tony

[jackson6745]

How often do you feed your puffer?

[Reaper]

Originally posted by ahhdui
It does have a sweet tooth for stonies.
--Tony [/B]

How are they with acros and candycane????????

[ahhdui]

Acros - good meal
candycane - ok

all my lps and softies are safe.

--Tony

[Zepplin]

That's interesting that your puffer bothers your stonies. What species is it? I've had a few puffers, and NONE have ever bothered any corals.

I feed my puffer twice per day. At this point I feed him 4 pieces of krill a day (2 in the morning, 2 in the evening) and he gathers whatever mysis he can when i feed the other fish. I admit that I feed rather heavy, but i've got a pretty loaded system. The sandbed has so much life that if i don't feed heavily there would probably be die-off. Also, in case you were wondering, no, I don't have any nitrates.

Dan

[iceman16238]

Zep,
Do you feed frozen or freeze dried krill and mysis?

[jackson6745]

how is your reef set up? I have a 65gal plenum system----I get a rise of nirate of about 10ppm every 2 weeks, a 15gal water change corrects the problem. I am moving my tank in a few weeks to a different room in my house. I am thinking of trying a different method----POSSIBLY!

[Zepplin]

I feed frozen krill and mysis. I also toss in a little flake and pellets for the critters. I don't supplement with any sort of vitamins or any of that crap. I think that stuff will pollute the water too much.

My system is a 125gal 6' tank, with 5-6" DSB (southdown of course!). The sump is 25 gallon or so rubbermaid with about 3" of SD in there too. Also, we added a 30 gallon frag tank with 5" DSB about 2 months ago.

I'm a huge advocate of DSB's. I've tried some of the other methods, and this has been the only one that consistently provides 0 nitrates and IMO more stabil water quality in general.

*INTERRUPTION!* SWEEEEEEET!!! Hoss just puffed up!!! HAAHA!!! I love that! Nothing brings a smile to my face like a spiked ball.

Anyways.... Where was I? Ummmm... Yeah, puffers rock.

Dan

[Reaper]

Wow Zepplin,
I thought they only puffed when provoked? Was it fighting?

[bmcelhinn]

I have a fullgrown hispidus puffer in my 90 gallon about 12" he doesn't bother any corals except button polyps. I have 4 cleaner shrimp that hang out with him all the time. It's funny to watch sometimes they clean his teeth and he opens his mouth up so they can get in. Never harmed any of them. Sometimes he likes to lay in the colt coral like a clown in an anemone. He doesn't steal food from anyone because he doesn't bother with small mysis or brine, pellets or anything else I give the other fish. He eats big raw shrimp from the grocery store. Not messy at all, he actually swallows them most of the time, hardly chewing. Also he loves big silversides. He did eat one hermit, it was upside down and he came right up to investigate and the hermit didn't bother to hide in his shell and the puffer got him. Other than that he is a model citizen and my favorite fish. P.S. hispidus is like a dogface with different markings.

[Zepplin]

Nope, wasn't fighting nor provoked. My personal theory is that puffers will puff occasionally to "stretch" so to speak. All of the puffers I've had have puffed randomly for no aparent reason. It's really quite a sight!!

Those of you with high bandwidth might like this...
Video of Hoss puffed up!

Dan

[Zepplin]

bmcelhinn,
My puffer loves to lie in some leather corals too. It's pretty funny. He's particularly fond of one of the larger Sarco's we've got. It's just the perfect size for Hoss to "park" on.

That reminds me, puffers are indeed nocturnal, so don't panic if they are "lying" around during the day. Ours will sometimes take prolonged naps during the day where he'll just sit there letting the shrimps give him a bath. I'm gonna try to get a video of that sometime when i'm not as busy (read: lasy).

Dan